LAHORE: Globalisation of market and operations has placed tremendous pressure on policy makers to take accurate decisions using data analysis and other accurate information, Punjab Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman said on Thursday.He made these comments while addressing the inaugural session of a three-day ‘International Conference on Statistical Sciences’, held at the Punjab University New Campus. The session was presided over by PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran.The minister said the purpose of education and research was to introduce desirable changes in society, “which are impossible without availability of worthwhile statistical sciences tools for effective planning”.
“This signifies paramount importance of developing suitable statistical techniques and their applications in the 21st century’s global society and economy.”The education minister said the challenges faced by Pakistan’s developing economy could only be met through high quality research and academic activities in our universities. He stressed the vital needs for collecting authentic, reliable and accurate data for effectively planning the development and progress of the country’s public as well as private sectors.PU VC Mujahid, in his speech, said that the only way for Pakistan to take its rightful place in the world was to allocate at least four percent of its GDP for promotion of literacy and education. “Reliable and quality data is not only the need of every student and teacher who is interested in research but is also indispensable for policy and decision makers for our speedy socio-economic progress,” he added.Federal Statistics Division Secretary Asif Bajwa, Dr Janair Fidaner from Turkey and Dr Gulzar H Shah from the US also spoke at the function. Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Jamil Anwar Chaudhry, deans of all faculties, senior faculty members, leading statisticians and a large number of students attended the conference.Later, Dr Shahid Kamal presented shields to Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Dr Kamran, Dr Janair Fidaner, Dr Gulzar H Shah, Asif Bajwa and Dr Jamil Anwar
